Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Housing: Construction

Lord Hampton: To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of (1) public, and (2) private, homebuilding, over the next 10 years they expect will be designated for key workers; and what plans they have to ensure that they remain occupied by key workers.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: This Government is committed to providing the affordable housing the country needs and has introduced a range of measures intended to make it easier for people to enter the housing market.The First Homes programme is designed to help local first-time buyers on to the property ladder, by offering homes at a discount of at least 30% of the market price. The discount is passed on to all future purchasers in perpetuity, meaning these homes will continue to benefit first-time buyers for generations to come.Local authorities are able to prioritise certain groups in their local area, which can include key workers or those with a local connection.Additionally, we are investing £11.5 billion to provide tens of thousands of new homes across the country, a significant number of which will be for Affordable and Social rent, to help those most in need.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Mathematics: Research

Lord Clement-Jones: To ask His Majesty's Government how many mathematics fellowships UK Research and Innovation (1) funded in the UK from 2019–22, and (2) will fund from 2022–25.

Lord Callanan: The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), within UK Research and Innovation, funds Mathematical Sciences from its core budget, typically spending c£25-30 million/per annum for grants, fellowships, and studentships. In addition, they have committed a further £124 million which will spend out to 2028-29 as part of the Additional Funding Programme for Mathematic Sciences (AFPMS) commitment. During the period FY 2019/20-2021/22, EPSRC funded 40 fellowship awards in mathematical sciences from core funding augmented by AFPMS. Awards in future years will be subject to the quality of applications received. A further 15 fellowships have been awarded to mathematical sciences through the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships scheme.

Mathematics: Research

Lord Clement-Jones: To ask His Majesty's Government how much as a percentage of the overall UK Research and Innovation settlement is the current allocation to the mathematical sciences.

Lord Clement-Jones: To ask His Majesty's Government how much of UK Research and Innovation's funding was allocated to mathematics in (1) 2019–22, and (2) 2022–25.

Lord Callanan: The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, within UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), funds Mathematical Sciences from its core budget, typically spending c£25-30 million/per annum for grants, fellowships, and studentships. In addition, they have committed a further £124 million which will spend out to 2028-29 as part of the Additional Funding Programme for Mathematic Sciences (AFPMS) commitment. This further investment will nearly double the funding going into the Mathematical Sciences this Spending Review (SR) period within the context of a 14% increase in UKRI’s overall budget by the end of the current SR period.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Transcaucasus: Roads

Baroness Cox: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to reports of (1) the death of a patient due to a lack of medical treatment, and (2) the reduction of essential supplies for civilians, in Nagorno-Karabakh, what representations they have made to the government of Azerbaijan regarding the closure of the road from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK Government has made clear that the closure of the Lachin corridor risks severe humanitarian consequences. Our Embassies in Baku and Yerevan continue to urge the Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan to abide by all commitments in relation to the Lachin corridor in good faith, and to settle the remaining conflict issues as soon as possible. The UK has spoken at the Organization for Security Co-operation in Europe and at the United Nations Security Council, as well as in Baku, to urge the immediate reopening of the corridor given the risk of severe humanitarian consequences.

Hong Kong: Religious Freedom

Lord Cormack: To ask His Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of religious freedom in Hong Kong.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK is committed to defending freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all, including Hong Kongers, and promoting respect between different religious and non-religious communities. Promoting the right to FoRB is one of the UK's longstanding human rights priorities.The Sino-British Joint Declaration is a legally binding treaty between the UK and China, and under this China committed to uphold Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and protect the rights and freedoms of its people. This explicitly includes freedom of expression and freedom of religious belief.However, the Hong Kong authorities have repeatedly used the National Security Law (NSL) to curtail freedoms, punish dissent and shrink the space for political opposition. We remain concerned about the growing use of the NSL to suppress freedom of expression and what this may mean for FoRB.

Jimmy Lai

Lord Cormack: To ask His Majesty's Government what stepsthey have taken to ensure that Jimmy Lai, a British citizen and devout Roman Catholic, is able to receive pastoral care whilst in prison.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We remain concerned about the targeting of pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong, and are following these cases carefully. For data protection reasons I cannot share information about an individual without their permission.Accredited diplomats at our Consulate-General in Hong Kong will continue to attend Mr Lai's court proceedings.We continue to make clear to mainland Chinese and Hong Kong authorities our strong opposition to the National Security Law, which is being used to curtail freedoms, punish dissent and shrink the space for opposition, free press and civil society.

Palestinians: Textbooks

Lord Pickles: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether reports of antisemitic and extremist content in Palestinian school textbooks adhere to (1) the Palestinian Authority–Department for International Development Memorandum of Understanding, and (2) the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to take action against incitement to violence.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Our partnership with the Palestinian Authority (PA) includes a commitment from the Palestinian leadership to adhere to the principle of non-violence and to tackle language and actions that could incite violence or hatred. We have been clear that incitement to hatred or violence is unacceptable and has no place in education. We continue to assess the PA's commitment to peace in line with our Partnership Principles.

Palestinians: UN Convention against Torture

Lord Pickles: To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the Palestinian Authority's compliance with the Optional Protocol of the Convention Against Torture.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Human Rights is a crucial element underpinning the UK's foreign policy. We continue to urge the Palestinian Authority (PA) to respect human rights, to ensure complaints of mistreatment or arbitrary detention are properly investigated and to further improve the performance of the security sector. An essential aspect of our efforts to prepare the ground for a two state-solution is to support a stable PA that can deliver services to its people and act as an effective partner for peace with Israel. The UK will continue to monitor these areas closely and raise with the highest levels of the PA.

Ekrem İmamoğlu

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Turkey regarding the sentencing of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, to two years and seven months in prison for the crime of "insulting public officials".

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK believes that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. We have noted the sentence handed down to Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and will continue to follow the legal proceedings in this case closely. We look to Turkey, as a modern democracy and a fellow member of the Council of Europe, to undertake any legal processes against political figures fairly, transparently and with full respect for the rule of law. We regularly raise human rights concerns with Turkish officials at senior levels and will continue to do so.

Nagorno Karabakh

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of warnings of (1) genocide, and (2) other atrocities, being committed against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK Government continues to monitor the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. The UK Government has repeatedly urged the Armenian and Azerbaijani Governments to thoroughly investigate all allegations of war crimes and other atrocities in recent years. It is essential all allegations of mistreatment, abuse and summary killings are urgently and fully investigated by the appropriate authorities.

China: Diplomatic Service

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the recent protests at the Chinese Consulate in Manchester, what representations they have made to overseas governments on sharing information about the six Chinese diplomats recently withdrawn from the UK by the government of China, in the event that those individuals are redeployed to a third country.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We engage closely with our international partners on a wide range of issues, including those related to China.

Brazil: Politics and Government

The Earl of Dundee: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage the government of Brazil to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: The UK regularly engages with the Brazilian government, civil society and other partners to talk about and monitor human rights developments and respect for the rule of law in Brazil. This engagement is at official and ministerial levels, including recently by the Foreign Secretary. Ahead of Brazil's Universal Periodic Review in November, the UK asked how Brazil intends to strengthen protections of human rights including of environmental and human rights defenders, as well as women at risk of trafficking and the LGBT+ community. We will continue to raise these issues with the incoming government of President-elect Lula da Silva.

Department for Education

Childcare: Fees and Charges

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide financial support to (1) parents, and (2) charities, facing high childcare fees.

Baroness Barran: For families with younger children, childcare costs are often a significant part of their household expenditure, which is why improving the affordability and availability of childcare is important for this government. The department has spent £20 billion over the last five years supporting families with the cost of childcare. This includes over £3.5 billion in each of the past three years on early education entitlements. That is thousands of parents benefitting from government childcare support.In July, we announced measures to reduce the costs and bureaucracy facing providers and ensure families can access government support to save them money on their childcare bills. This included the launch of a £1.2 million communications campaign via the childcare choices website to ensure every parent knows about the government funded support they are eligible for: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.We are also investing over £200 million a year in the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which provides enriching activities and healthy meals for disadvantaged children during school holidays.The department continues to work across government, looking at ways to make childcare more affordable and accessible to ensure that families benefit from the government-funded support they are entitled to.

Childcare: Tax Allowances

Baroness Chapman of Darlington: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase (1) awareness, and (2) the take-up, of their childcare schemes.

Baroness Barran: Improving parents’ awareness and take-up of childcare schemes is a government priority.Delivered in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs, the Childcare Choices campaign aims to increase awareness of government childcare support to ease the pressures for working parents, and signposts to the Childcare Choices website to make it easy for people to claim: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.The campaign has been delivered in two bursts through radio, search, digital outdoor (e.g. bus stop advertising) and social media advertising, with the first burst running over the summer period from 30 June to 31 August. We also delivered a press partnership with the Metro (online and print), the Sun Online and the Independent Online in August. The second campaign burst went live on 31 October, with a short pause over Christmas, before it resumes again in the new year.The campaign has driven extensive reach, with ads being viewed through digital and search over 59 million times. There has also been strong engagement in the campaign, with over 559,000 Childcare Choices website sessions. The first burst of the campaign has also demonstrated a solid conversion rate, with 77,995 referrals to GOV.UK pages from Childcare Choices for each element of childcare support:Universal Credit – 6,598 referrals, a 156% increaseTax-Free Childcare – 25,840 referrals, a 116% increase30 hours – 16,731 referrals, a 27% increaseWe will be able to report on final GOV.UK referral numbers when the second burst of the campaign is complete. We continue to work across government to increase awareness and encourage families to use the government-funded support they are entitled to.

Childcare

Baroness Chapman of Darlington: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure childcare is (1) accessible, and (2) affordable.

Baroness Barran: The department is committed to improving the availability and affordability of childcare which is why we have spent over £3.5 billion in each of the past three years on our early education entitlements to support families with the cost of childcare. This means that thousands of parents are benefitting from government childcare support.In the 2021 Spending Review, we announced additional funding of £160 million in 2022/23, £180 million in 2023/24 and £170 million in 2024/25, compared to the 2021/22 financial year. This is for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers, reflecting cost pressures and changes in the number of eligible children anticipated at the time of the Spending Review.For 2023/24, we will invest an additional £20 million into early years funding, on top of the additional £180 million for 2023/24. Taken together, this will help support providers at a national level with the additional National Living Wage costs associated with delivering the free childcare entitlements next year.In July, we announced measures to reduce the costs and bureaucracy facing providers and ensure families can access government support to save them money on their childcare bills. This included the launch of a new £1.2 million communications campaign via the childcare choices website to ensure every parent knows about the government funded support they are eligible for: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.The department continues to work across government, looking at ways to make childcare more affordable and accessible to ensure that families benefit from the government-funded support they are entitled to.

Nurseries: Closures

Baroness Chapman of Darlington: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of nursery closures this year on childcare (1) fees, (2) quality, and (3) availability.

Baroness Barran: The childcare and early years provider survey contains information on average fees charged by childcare providers. This showed that between 2021/2022, average fees for children under 2 years of age increased by 2.7%; average fees for children aged 2 increased by 3.4%; and average fees for pre-school children aged 3 and 4 increased by 3.8%. All of these increases were below the rate of inflation, which in May 2022 was 9.1%. Fees charged by providers will reflect a variety of factors.The quality of childcare remains high which is testament to the great work of childcare providers. As of 31 August 2022, 96% of childcare providers have been judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection. More detail is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-providers-and-inspections-as-at-31-august-2022/main-findings-childcare-providers-and-inspections-as-at-31-august-2022.The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children. Ofsted data shows that the number of places offered by providers on the Early Years Register has remained broadly stable at 1.3 million places since August 2015.Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The Department has regular contact with each local authority in England, and if a local authority raises concerns about sufficiency issues we will support it with any specific requirements.